Did you see the new G2G categories?

1.) Appreciation for Wonderful WikiTreers posts and other messages that our amazingly supportive community members post for each other. I think it really says something special about our group that there are enough of these to warrant their own category.

2.) Photos for sharing family photos. With a separate category, maybe we can now encourage more "lost and found" posts too, i.e. sharing photos that you hope will find their way home someday.

3.) WikiTree Help for basic questions about using WikiTree. This also gives us a better place for sharing tips for beginners, like Ruben did here. These questions went in WikiTree Tech before, and that's where I thought they belonged. But the introductory questions are very different from the bug reports, suggestions, and technical questions. There was a time when I answered most of both types myself. We're a long way from that now! I can hardly even keep on top of technical discussions these days. It's terrific how much our members help each other here.

Any questions about the categories?

Onward and upward,

Chris

P.S. G2G Moderators, will you help move questions into these new categories? Thanks!

Jillaine and Paula, the idea of a DNA category is interesting. Maybe one of you would like to start a new "Should there be a DNA category here in G2G?" thread? If you could present the pros and cons for discussion, that would be great.

Categories in profiles are different than g2g categories. We should come up with a better term for g2g categories. In g2g there is now an “area” for sharing photos (separate From posting photos to profile pages).

I don't think we need a separate DNA category, at least not yet. Questions about using DNA in genealogy are a good fit for Requests for Genealogy Help, and questions about the WikiTree DNA tools fit nicely in WikiTree Help or WikiTree Tech.

I may have missed this, but is there anyway to just look at certain categories like Genealogy Help, without seeing the whole combined G2G list? Such as using the Tabs Recent/Hot/etc. Or could we add tags there for Genealogy Help/Tech etc.

9 Answers

+26 votes

I like the new categories. Looks like they are going to help make it easier to find and post information for individuals to search. The WikiTree Help is going to be a great addition for the new WikiTree members.

Any thoughts about a preference field that would allow you to default to a specific category when you first enter G2G? Now that we've got some additional ones, perhaps we could use them more frequently if we start in one right off the bat?

I missed the discussion on this. Why would we need a field instead of members just bookmarking their favorite category, if they have one? For example, you can go straight to https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/appreciation

Just a random thought - I can't recall this being brought up specifically, although preferences discussions do pop up occasionally. I'm good with things as they are - just figured I'd ask the question. Sounds like there's a number of ways to get directly to them, other than my lazy click on the primary link (which just takes me to the main page).

I note that when the older questions/answers have been moved, they get a new date which may be a bit confusing to people looking for questions to answer. But I don't know how or even whether they can be moved to the new categories without the confusion.

Thanks, Chris, for this change. I think it's going to improve the usability of G2G. It should be easier for people to tell where to put their questions, and the reduction in traffic for some of the categories will make it easier to use the categories to "watch" G2G.

I had started recategorizing discussions before you posted this message. :-)

One minor glitch I've observed is that a few people have been adding their genealogy questions to the new WikiTree Help category. It's not necessarily obvious that it's not a new name for "Requests for Genealogy Help." Is there room in the description field to say "Genealogy questions go in Requests for Genealogy Help"?

And maybe the purpose of "Requests for Genealogy Help" might stand out better if it was shortened to just "Genealogy help" - might make the Genealogy part stand out better in the list. I don't think it would be a problem if the category contained offers and requests all together.

And I do like the suggestions "WikiTree How-to" or "How to WikiTree". For me the least clear point is the difference between "WikiTree help" and "WikiTree Tech". So for that reason "How to WikiTree" might be better because it is more different.

As to 'WikiTree Help', while the current suggestions are probably less ambiguous, I'll throw out another suggestion - 'Getting Started'. It's common now in other forums and software, easily recognized as the place for basic help, installation help, first steps to usage, and everything to do with getting started with that particular app or topic, but will generally also point to all other reference materials, manuals, guides, and videos. However, 'WikiTree Help' or 'WikiTree How-to' or 'WikiTree Usage' does sound more comprehensive.

Not all help topics come from new folks; it seems like we all run into things from time to time that we don't understand or need basic advice about. And the "how to wikitree" title that's been suggested seems too narrow; it doesn't encompass questions like "what are badges?" (to name just one example I saw recently).